Innocence [On Hold]

The Chosen Sacrifice

“It’s already time to choose another sacrifice. One of us will have to go up to the castle and sacrifice his life to save all of ours. You all know that it has to happen. Firstly, I have to ask if there are any volunteers? If there are we already now who’s going, otherwise we’re going to vote who’s going.”

The Major of Ilere, Kryl Underwood, looked around. He locked eyes with some of the villagers as his gaze went over the crowd. It was a sad thing to do. Even for him who has seen it already many times it was still frustrating to see the families cry when someone leaves.

Suddenly someone broke the silence.

“I wanna go!”

The major stared at the girl who just spoke. His gray eyes stared at her sadly.

“Kaitlynn O’ Donnell, I must admit that you are brave, but I won’t send an innocent six year old girl to this monster!” He had never rejected a volunteer but he couldn’t let the tailors only child go. Kaitlynn was all her father had after his wifes’ death.

It was a sad story. Martha O’Donnell was one of the most beautiful women that have ever lived in Ilere but exactly after she gave birth to Kaitlynn the child was chosen to go to the castle. She didn’t want that to happen. She had protested and had said that she wanted to go. She wanted to sacrifice her life to safe the lives of her beloved husband and her newborn daughter.

He had promised her to never send her daughter up there because of what she did. He knew how it was to lose someone and he knew how it would be for the tailor to lose his wife and his child.

“But I wanna go! I wanna meet mommy! And I don’t believe that the monster’s this bad! I don't believe he killed her!” She replied, raising her voice.

“No.” Kryl stated angrily. Everyone started to whisper. They all knew what Kryl had promised Martha O’Donnell and they all knew that he had to break this promise now.

“I wanna go!” Kaitlynn pouted. Suddenly Marc O’Donnell, her father interrupted Kaitlynn.

“No you don’t wanna go there dear. It would kill you. You know that the monster kills people once a year but some decades ago it killed half of us in an hour! You don’t want to go to such a cruel monster!” He was really angry with his daughter. He couldn’t help it, he loved her so much and right now she pained him.

“I. Wanna. Go.” Kaitlynn locked eyes with her father. Her blue eyes met his brown ones. She shook her blond curls over her shoulder while staring him down.

He knew he would loose this fight. He was all too aware that he had no chance in stopping Kaitlynn from leaving him too. He knew he would lose his everything through losing her. His beloved little child, the only memory of his wife.

He would lose his daughter, the reason his poor wife had died.

“Kaitlynn, please. Stay with me. Don’t go up there.” He begged desperately. She shook her small head, her blonde hairs flying around wildly. She had decided to go to the so called monster. She didn’t think he really was the bad guy everyone thought he was. She was sure that he was actually a nice person.

Everyone was quiet now. No sound was heard anywhere. It was like time stood still. No one dared to say a word, even the wind was quiet. No bird sang and you couldn’t even hear the nearby stream anymore. It was like all the surroundings understood how serious this was. How sad it was.

“Kaitlynn, don’t do this to me! You know I can’t lose you!” Her father was furious by now. He didn’t want to lose his only child. But Kaitlynn wouldn’t listen. She was a stubborn child. Something she had got from her mother. She was like her in so many ways.

“I’m goin’. I don’t believe he’s bad.”Kaitlynn wanted her father to understand how she felt. She thought that the so called monster was just a misunderstood creature that needed someone to help it to show people the nice side of itself. She didn’t want to judge people by what they did. She was told to never do this. She was taught to first get to know a person before judging.

Suddenly the Major raised his voice again: “She is a volunteer and we all know we can’t refuse her to go up there. It’s her choice and she decided to go. We have to accept this. You too Marc O’Donnell. It’s your daughters’ decision and this is what she has chosen. Now get ready to leave Kaitlynn.” He looked at the small six year old child helplessly. He wanted to convince her to stop but he knew couldn’t refuse her. The other villagers wouldn’t accept it at all.

“Mhm.” Kaitlynn nodded a wide smile on her face. Now she could finally prove them wrong! They had to believe her that he wasn’t bad. She knew it. And she knew that he didn’t kill her mother. Martha was still alive and waited for her daughter to come. She could feel it inside her; it was like her mother was willing her to go.

Her mother had sent her letters over all these years. No one except the one that brought them knew about the existence of the letters. Jase came once a month with a new one. He didn’t just give them to her and leave after he did so; no he always read them to her.

He read very single one to her. And he also told her that they had to keep the letters a secret from the other villagers. No one should know about them. Not even her father.

Jase was a nice boy and Kaitlynn always really liked him. Not only because of the letters but also because he was so nice to her and seemed to like being in her company. Nicer than the other boys in the village. They would often pull pranks on the little girls or pull her hair and other mean things. She hated them with all her heart.

 Only Jase was different. He lives in the castle with the monster and her mother. He could read and write which made him different to the other boys. They hated him for his education.

“Kaitlynn… You don’t have to do this. You can stay here with me.” Her fathers’ voice was softer now still she shook her head energetically making her curls fly around again.

“I have to go. I want to. I wanna prove you and aaaaaall these people wrong!” she replied in her typical way. She was a strong girl even though she was only six. Her father saw so much of her mother Martha in this little child. She was like her in so many ways but he had to let her go. His daughter decided her faith herself. There’s nothing he could do about it. It broke his heart.

“Okay… come on. Let’s pack your stuff…” His voice nearly broke when he said this. Tears were welling up in his eyes and he couldn’t believe that he would have to stay here. Alone. Desperate. His beloved ones gone. Forever.

“Daddy, don’t cry. I’m gonna send you a letter every week ‘kay?” He shook his head. She didn’t know what was going to happen to her. She was too young to really understand what happened to people going up there.

“Kaitlynn, you won’t be able to send me letters. Everyone who goes up there dies.” She looked at him, her big blue eyes showing incomprehension.

“No daddy. That’s not true.” She smiled her big, bright smile again before she started running towards her home. She didn’t know it would be the last time she was going to be here. The last time she would see her father.

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okay so this is the first chappie ;D I got so many nice comments on the prologue so I just had to finish this chappie now and voila, here it is ;D I'm gonna write the next one as soon as possible btw ;D

okay to tell the truth: my inspiration for this book were two things: 'Walk Two Moons' and 'The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas'. I somehow wanted to do something where you see the world through a childs eyes. Through someones eyes who doesn't judge people before knowing them and the result was 'innocence'. I didn't want to do a 'normal' story because I'm really into fantasy at the moment so I did this ;D

Hope you like it and I appreciate every comment and vote ;D